Stocking



July 4, 1961 J. J. PURCELL 2,990,704

STOCKING Filed March 23, 1959 INVENTOR. JAM/5'5 J PU/PQZZ United States Patent 2,990,704 STOCKING James J. Purcell, '1421 Van Stetfy Ave., Wyomissing, Pa. Filed Mar. 23, 1959, Ser. No. 803,814 1 Claim. (Cl. 66-202) Until the advent of synthetic filaments, such as rayon, nylon, etc., stockings and undergarments were knit of cotton or of natural silk or of other natural moisture absorbing threads. Garments made from silk have a nice hand, or feel, and a good appearance but, fabric made of natural silk, especially when small denier yarn was used, as in the case of sheer stockings, sheer blouses or sheer panties, the fabric did not have much strength. Also, because of the variations in the filaments as produced by the silk worm and which are spun to form a usable yarn, silk threads were not of uniform thickness throughout and were not as smooth, or as free of irregularities, as could be desired. To remedy this situation, it was proposed, during the middle 1930s, to knit silk stockings of three separate yarns, each of which was used to form one course so as to avoid forming several successive courses of a piece of yarn which is relatively thick and/or rough and the next few courses of a piece of the same yarn which happens to be relatively thin, thus producing shadow bands or rings in the finished fabric. The stocking knit of separate yarns were referred to in the trade as ringless and a patent was issued on this method of knitting.

Synthetic yarns, such as rayon, nylon, Dacron, etc., are uniform in denier, are smooth and are stronger than natural silk yarns of comparable denier. However, all of these synthetic yarns are non-absorbent and, in the presence of perspiration, they have a clammy and slimy feel which is most objectionable. Besides, certain persons are allergic .to synthetic yarns. Also, the fact that they are substantially translucent, reduces light reflection so that the finished fabric, be it a stocking or some other garment, will not have the sheen which a similar garment made of natural silk has.

The object of this invention is to produce improved stockings and other garments and fabrics which combine the rich appearance, the comfortable feel, and the moisture absorbing capacity of silk with the smoothness, strength and uniformity of synthetic threads.

In the following disclosure, I have illustrated the invention as applied to the manufacture of stockings knit of plain loop, or chain stitches, but it is to be understood that the invention is equally applicable to the production of other garments and fabrics and, regardless of the method of knitting and regardless of whether plain stitches, locked stitches, or any other type of stitch is selected.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a stocking embodying the invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlargement of the bracketed portion 2 on FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged and highly diagrammatic representation of the relationship of the natural silk and artificial threads in the knit fabric, the natural and artificial yarns being used in 211 to 1 ratio.

FIG. 4 is similar to FIG. 3 by showing the natural and synthetic yarns used in a 1 to 2 ratio.

As stated, the stocking shown is only intended to represent a knit garment or fabric and, therefore, the manner in which the stocking is constructed forms no part of the present invention and will not be described. It is suificient to assume that the fabric in question is knit and that it can be knit of the plain loop or chain stitch shown in FIG. 2 or of the well-known locked stitch or of any other stitch or combination of stitches. In other words, FIG. 2 is merely a graphic representation to show the use of natural and synthetic threads but is not intended to limit the disclosure to the particular type of knitting and therein illustrated.

In carrying out my invention, I form one course of a synthetic yarn 10, such as nylon, and another course of natural silk yarn 12, with courses alternating, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 or non-alternating, as shown in FIG. 4. While, in the preferred form of invention illustrated, the natural and synthetic yarns alternate for a ratio of 1 to 1, it is within the scope of the invention to select any other ratio as illustrated, for example, in FIG. 4, in which two courses of nylon are knit for every course of natural silk, or vice versa. For certain types of fabrics, it may be preferable to twist the natural and synthetic yarns together and to use the resultant yarn for knitting the desired garment or fabric.

As will be best seen from FIGS. 3 and 4, the synthetic thread is of a relatively small diameter, as compared with the diameter of the natural silk thread so that only the silk thread 10 will contact the skin which is diagrammatically shown at 14. This imparts to the fabric the comfortable feel of natural silk, carries away perspiration and eliminates the hot, clammy feel of synthetic yarns. Likewise, because the outer surfaces of the natural silk yarn are much greater than, and project beyond, the corresponding surfaces of the synthetic yarns, the silk yarns dominate the appearance of the fabric, especially when the fabric is viewed at an angle. In fact, except on close examination, the garment or the fabric will appear as if it were made of natural silk only.

A garment made as above suggested will have some of the strength of nylon and the feel and appearance of natural silk. Also, because the natural silk yarns :are interspersed by the nylon yarns, they will not tend to form rings or shadows which are sometimes present when the silk yarn is knit into contiguous courses. In carrying out my invention, I contemplate supplying the silk yarn for one course from one carrier and supplying yarn for the next course from another carrier thus further distributing any unevenness or any diflFerences in the denier or in the smoothness or in the color shading of the natural silk thread.

Also, while I have referred to combining natural silk yarns with synthetic yarns, it is within the scope of the invention to combine synthetic yarn with cotton or other natural yarns according to the methods above set forth.

What I claim is:

As an article of manufacture, a knit garment formed of courses of uniform stitches, the stitches in alternating courses being knit of a natural, absorbent, thread and the remaining courses being knit of synthetic thread, the diameter of the natural thread being substantially twice the diameter of the synthetic thread whereby only the natural threads will contact the surface on which the garment is worn and will dominate the appearance of both sides of the fabric.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 568,694 Muhlinghaus et a1 Sept. 29, 1896 1,616,530 Hinchlifi Feb. 8, 1927 2,001,281 Mayer May 14, 1935 2,095,069 Kugelman Oct. 5, 1937 2,097,763 Hemmerich Nov. 2, 1937 2,777,310 Comer Jan. 15, 1957 

